The invention relates to a portable escape or descender device that enables persons trapped in the interior of a building or other enclosure to safely descend therefrom. Many people have been injured or killed as a result of being trapped by fire in an upper floor of a tall building. Although multilevel buildings such as hotels usually are equipped with permanent fire escape stairways, access to such fire escape stairways is sometimes blocked by fire. In recognition of this problem, numerous portable descender devices have been devised. In U.S. Pat. No. 666, 879, a descender that utilizes a cable wound around a rotatable drum and operates in engagement with a rotatable brake drum is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 666,879. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,027, a cable weaves around a plurality of rotating pulleys and a rotary brake pulley with brake lining washers. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,098,223, the cable is engaged by a mechanism including a rotating brake drum, guide wheels, gears, pinions and a brake strap and friction plate operation by a lever. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,761 includes a rope or cable and rotating rollers and brake shoes, levers, cables and springs. U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,287 utilizes webbing or rope as an escape cord, and discloses a very complex mechanical structure. U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,489 utilizes rope in a structure that crimps the rope into an oval shaped configuration. U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,,030 applies pressure to, a rope escape line by an adjustable brake pad applied to the straight section of the rope as it passes through the device.
None of the above descender devices is sufficiently compact, inexpensive, and reliable to meet the need for a compact descender that travelers can easily carry in their suitcases and confidently utilize for escape in the event of a fire.